A father set on teaching his pum pum shorts-loving daughter a lesson in modesty had an interesting approach: He trimmed his jeans and paraded around in his own skimpy outfit during a family outing.

Did it work? The jury’s still out.

It began as the Utah family headed out for dinner. Scott Mackintosh overheard his wife arguing with their daughter about putting on longer shorts; the young woman refused.

“I’m a firm believer that the way we dress sends messages about us, and it influences the way we and others act,” the father of seven wrote on his wife’s blog. Unhappy with his daughter’s “inappropriate” and “immodest” wardrobe choice, Dad took action.

“Instead of turning her response and disrespectful attitude into a major battle, I decided to make a ‘small’ statement on how her short-shorts maybe aren’t as ‘cute’ as she thinks!” he recounted online. “I grabbed some scissors and cut some old worn out pants into a set of short-shorts with the ends of the pockets hanging out the bottom. There was only about an inch of material below the crotch of the shorts.”

With his makeshift Daisy Dukes firmly in place, Mackintosh took his family out to dinner and mini-golf. Stares and titters followed the Mackintoshes, but his daughter Myley – who kind of looks like that other Miley – did her best to appear unperturbed. She snapped and posted a photo of his getup; it quickly climbed the charts on Tumblr.

Myley finally cracked at a burger joint, hiding out in the car. “She had had enough and did not want to go through any further embarrassment,” her father wrote.

Did the stunt achieve anything? Mackintosh acknowledged there was no cathartic moment, no “Dad I get it.” Still, he doesn’t regret his momentary virality: “My daughter will always know that her dad loves her and cares about her enough to make a fool out of himself.”

Many readers applauded the scantily clad patriarch: “Great to see a dad who cares enough,” one wrote at CBC. And another at the Daily Mail: “Sounds like a warm and loving family.”

But others saw it as another case of “slut-shaming,” much in the vein of Kimberly Hall, an overzealous Texan mother who penned the incendiary blog post “FYI (if you’re a teenage girl).” Here, “Mrs. Hall” warned all would-be temptresses to back away from her teenaged sons. She threatened to block from the boys’ social media accounts any young women posting seductive selfies.

“I know that sounds so old-school, but we are hoping to raise men with a strong moral compass, and men of integrity don’t linger over pictures of scantily clad high-school girls.”

Mrs. Hall’s message didn’t go overso well, and it remains unclear how the children of these viral parents will return the favour. The boys can cavort with as many duck-faced women as they choose, and Myley don all the pum pum shorts at her disposal once they start paying their own rent.

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